After a long day doing household chores, Manjula Devi rolled out a mattress on the floor of her modest home in India's eastern state of Bihar and prepared to go to sleep.
However, minutes later she was woken by excruciating pain in her toe. Her screams awoke her husband and two children in their two-room mud-and-brick house in the village of Jalalabad. Turning on a light, the family were shocked to find a cobra, one of the world's most venomous snakes, slithering across the floor.
“We always sleep under a mosquito net because of the fear of snakes, but it still bit me,” Ms Devi, 30, told The National in early September from a hospital bed. She had deep blue marks on her toe.
She was lucky. The homemaker was taken to the area's Government Medical College, the only state-run centre treating snake bites in her district of Purnea, where she was given anti-venom.
Many others are not so fortunate. In India, about 50,000 people die every year from snake bites. An estimated three million to four million people are bitten by snakes every year in the country, with doctors and politicians saying the number is rising as serpents are displaced by climate change and come into contact with humans.
A few beds away in the ward, Jameela Khatoon, 70, shows another deep blue wound on her leg from a cobra she encountered near her home last month.
“It was still dark. I was walking home when I felt a sudden pain. When I lifted my sari, I saw a long snake hanging from my leg, its fangs still deep in my flesh,” Ms Khatoon said. “It was about an arm’s length … I ran home, crying for help.”
Her neighbours tied a rope around her leg to stop the venom from spreading through her body, before her son-in-law brought her to the hospital on his motorcycle. “Doctors said I am out of danger, but it is painful,” she told The National.
Dozens of snake bite patients are treated at the medical centre every day, with statistics showing an increase across the state on the banks of the Ganges amid lots of lush vegetation. It is a perfect sanctuary for snakes and other reptiles.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a Bharatiya Janata Party politician, told parliament in August that more than 10,000 deaths from snake bites were reported in Bihar in the past year and that climate change was partly to blame.
Globally, about 5.4 million people are bitten by snakes each year, the World Health Organisation said, with between 1.8 million and 2.7 million of those involving venomous snakes. There are about 130,000 deaths annually. Many more victims are forced to amputate body parts or are left with permanent disabilities. Doctors in Bihar say about 90 per cent of bites are caused by four serpents – the common krait, Indian cobra, Russell's viper and saw-scaled viper.
“We receive an average of 15 to 20 cases every day. Of them, five per cent are fatal. We have seen a sudden sharp rise in snake bite cases,” Dr Vinay Kumar Jha at the Purnea Hospital's Emergency and Toxicology Department told The National.
Climate change to blame
Several studies have found climate change is driving an increase in the number of snake bites by forcing the reptiles into greater contact with people. The Lancet Planetary Health journal in a March report suggested global warming would alter snake habitats, pushing them into populated areas and increasing the likelihood of encounters with humans.
“Climate change is expected to have profound effects on the distribution of venomous snake species, including reductions in biodiversity and changes in patterns of envenomation of humans and domestic animals,” it said.
Indian researchers reached similar findings in a paper issued in July. Future of snake bite risk in India: Consequences of climate change and the shifting habitats of the Big Four in the next 50 years, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, said the warming of the planet had diverse effects on global biodiversity, including shifting the geographic ranges of snakes.
Climate change and other man-made threats result in a loss of snake habitats and cause the reptiles to search for food near humans, Shantanu Kundu, an assistant professor at South Korea's Pukyong National University and one of the authors of the report, told The National.
Vishal Santra, a herpetologist and snake bite expert, said farmers in neighbouring West Bengal had been using more water for harvesting due to a lack of rain, causing snake habitats to flood and pushing the reptiles into proximity with locals.
“There is a shift in agricultural patterns and crops due to a shift in climate. Some years we don’t get rain at all, some years see a lot of rain,” Mr Santra said. “We have seen a shift in breeding patterns of some venomous snakes like cobras that are laying two clutches of eggs a year because females are coming to cycle again.”
Health care under pressure
Adding to the problem is a creaking healthcare system in many parts of rural India, meaning some victims struggle to get the help they need before it is too late. When schools in Purnea began their summer holidays in July, Gaurav Kumar, eight, visited his grandparents in Singhia. Four days into his stay, he was bitten by a snake while playing outside the house. His family took him to a traditional healer but he died.
“We didn’t have a car or a bike to take him to the hospital, which is 15km away. We first took him to a healer so his condition could be stabilised, before taking him to hospital, but he died on the way,” said his grandfather, Panchanand Mahaldar.
Dr Soumyadeep Bhaumik, an Indian doctor at the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, told The National that the high number of fatalities in India was due to a lack of robust healthcare infrastructure.
“We are always focused a lot on anti-venom but it is not just that, it is the entire functional health system – doctors, good health facilities and facilities for people from villages to rapidly reach hospitals,” he said. “None of these are happening.”
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Power: 272hp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 331Nm from 5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.7L/100km
On sale: now
Price: Dh149,000
The five pillars of Islam
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
The bio
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France
Favourite pastime: Family and friends, meditation, discovering new cuisines
Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.
Favourite Author: My father for sure
Favourite Artist: Damien Hurst
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UNSC Elections 2022-23
Seats open:
- Two for Africa Group
- One for Asia-Pacific Group (traditionally Arab state or Tunisia)
- One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
- One for Eastern Europe Group
Countries so far running:
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
India cancels school-leaving examinations
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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RESULT
Bayern Munich 3 Chelsea 2
Bayern: Rafinha (6'), Muller (12', 27')
Chelsea: Alonso (45' 3), Batshuayi (85')
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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3.
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UAE
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
Reputation
Taylor Swift
(Big Machine Records)
Cheeseburger%20ingredients
%3Cp%3EPrice%20for%20a%20single%20burger%20%C2%A30.44%3Cbr%3EPrice%20for%20a%20single%20bun%20%C2%A30.17%3Cbr%3EPrice%20for%20a%20single%20cheese%20slice%20%C2%A30.04%3Cbr%3EPrice%20for%2010g%20Gherkins%20is%20less%20than%20%C2%A30.01%3Cbr%3EPrice%20for%2010g%20ketchup%20is%20less%20than%20%C2%A30.01%20%3Cbr%3EPrice%20for%2010g%20mustard%20is%20less%20than%20%C2%A30.01%3Cbr%3EPrice%20for%2010g%20onions%20is%20less%20than%20%C2%A30.01%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ETotal%2068p%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ECredit%3A%20Meal%20Delivery%20Experts%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULT
West Brom 2 Liverpool 2
West Brom: Livermore (79'), Rondón (88' )
Liverpool: Ings (4'), Salah (72')
